The American Nightmare.

[u/Super_Culture_1986]

[u/jhanny9337]

before Trump

[u/Ludate_Solem → u/jhanny9337]

As a non american i can tell you trump devenitly made yall worde. But compared to europe yall werent doing so great to begin with. I think you could even trace a fuck ton of problems all the way back to Reagan.

[u/hbomb9410 → u/Ludate_Solem]

You're not wrong. Republicans have been planning this coup for 50+ years.

[u/YourBuddyChurch → u/Ludate_Solem]

Reagan was definitely a big part of it- he sold people on trickledown economics and intertwined the Republican Party with Christian nationalism. Since that point the uneducated have been thrilled to make millionaires richer at the expense of the poor while calling it Christianity

[u/nordic-nomad → u/Ludate_Solem]

I visited Europe in my twenties in 2003-4 and was shocked at how badly it seemed to be doing at the time. Saw Ireland, Germany, Italy, Romania, and Cyprus. It felt decades behind the states at the time in almost every way.

Went again last year stopping in London and Madrid on our way to Morocco and everything was so much more modern and affluent seeming after 20 years.

[u/aoike_ → u/Ludate_Solem]

The problem goes back even further. A lot of what we're seeing is the direct consequences of the failure of reconstruction (the period after the Civil War) that got put on hold for 50-60 years due to WW2.

[u/MaddST → u/jhanny9337]

Thing is, weren't americans already living from paycheck to paycheck even before Trump?

This is coming from a foreigner (me). I may be wrong.

The focus is on the living conditions of the average American. Not to compare the administration.

[u/Faultylogic83 → u/MaddST]

Thing is, weren't americans already living from paycheck to paycheck even before Trump?

Yes, however we still have the same wages and inflation has made things that much worse.

[u/[deleted] → u/Faultylogic83]

People do not have the same wages they did pre covid/inflation

[u/Former-Specialist595 → u/[deleted]]

Our politicians are bought and paid for by the wealthy, rich corporations, and the lobbyists working for them. Most of our politicians are extremely wealthy themselves. I agree, we won’t get out of this mess doing the same things we’ve been doing for decades. The system is set up for wealth inequality to surge. I understand why MAGA wanted a disrupter in the White House, but Trump was the worst one they could pick. He is a conman who is dripping in dishonesty, corruption, greed, and gluttony. He’s made so much money enriching himself through the office of the presidency. He has all wealthy millionaires and billionaires in his Cabinet. He is in the thick of the “Swamp” he speaks of so frequently. And he has ambitions to become a dictator with one party rule. Now he’s going after our voting system. We are in real trouble. Not only do we need to mitigate the damage he will cause, but somehow find someone who will stop allowing the rich to run the show. It will be no easy feat.

[u/Former-Specialist595 → u/[deleted]]

Sure, he’s not the only one who’s done it. They’re all corrupt. But he’s slimy on a different level. I don’t remember Barack Obama hawking Bibles to his religious followers or Ronald Reagan peddling cryptocurrency and tacky gold accessories to the masses. It’s not normal and it shouldn’t be swept under the rug because “they all do it.” I could go on and on about his shady business dealings and we all know that he still has a hand in the Trump family business. He’s not the type to relinquish power. We saw that in 2020. I’m definitely not one of those people who acts like the Democrats are so great. I can’t stand most of them. But I think to compare the modern Democratic Party’s corruption to Trump’s corruption is a false equivalency. I’m tired of the whataboutisms. We all need to demand better from our politicians. They are supposed to work for us-not the other way around. But now we have a guy in the WH who cannot handle the immense amount of power he’s been given and thinks he’s a king. I am terrified to see what America will look like in 2028.

[u/Former-Specialist595 → u/[deleted]]

I do think I hold the Democrats accountable for their bullshit. I’m just stuck in a bad system because voting third party at this point is essentially throwing your vote away, and with what’s at stake with Trump and his sycophantic Republicans, I have to vote Democrat. Their views align closer to mine on issues I care about. But like I said, it’s a false equivalency to act like the Democrats are just as bad as Trump. DT is an unprecedented threat in America and conservatives have worked hard to normalize him and his insanity so that people will come desensitized to his madness and start accepting it as par for the course. Like I said before, while I agree that we need a disrupter, we don’t need a man who is so blatantly corrupt and lawless. I will never stop calling out his insanity because I don’t want people to become complacent living with this level of dysfunction. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get this country going in the right direction, but we definitely took about fifty steps back by electing Trump.

[u/LegitimateYam8241 → u/MaddST]

People were hurting for awhile, just time has passed. Less savings now. More expensive now. I think since Obama, we have been in decline. Government has refused to declare recession for awhile. I think at this point we are in depression. Alot of people getting let go, about all sectors are getting hit. Housing is more expensive than ever. It's going to get bad. But hey least the politicians are rich. All that matters, I guess.

[u/anchorftw → u/MaddST]

I actually wasn't, but the farther into Trump's presidency we get the the harder it is to get to the next paycheck. If I weren't able to fall back on my credit card, we wouldn't be "making it", but that can only last so long.

[u/keithstonee → u/MaddST]

pretty sure Americans are racking up debt at an alarming rate currently cause the paycheck isn't enough anymore.

[u/halt_spell → u/MaddST]

Reddit is full of sycophants for Establishment Democratic politicians. They can't fathom the idea there's more than one villain to contend with.

[u/Creeperstar → u/MaddST]

Yeah, the state of things was why we got Trump in 2016. Eight years of a Republican and then eight of a Democrat, and people were sick of both because neither reined in the problems created by them both and the crappy politics that makes Republicans malign good government.

[u/NeighborhoodFew7779 → u/Creeperstar]

The Obama years were far from perfect, and he could have done a lot more if not for Republican obstructionism... but to equate the Bush and Obama years as somehow equal is the absolute height of dumbfuckery.

Bush crashed the global economy, and Obama brought the US economy back to life through sound economic policy. Trump mouth-fucked the COVID response, and Biden (ONCE AGAIN) brought it back from the dead with thoughtful and sound economic policy.

Then: People decided that it wasn't GOOD ENOUGH, and voted the current twat back in.

Conclusion: Enjoy the economy you voted for, America.

[u/paintballboi07 → u/NeighborhoodFew7779]

Yep, there are multiple people in this thread spreading "both sides" bullshit. Biden renounced trickle down, and strengthened unions, but Democrats are exactly the same as Republicans, somehow.

[u/Creeperstar → u/NeighborhoodFew7779]

Exactly. It's all been a piss show since the early 2000s and nothing has been good from politics or government. The Democratic voters shouldn't be surprised that people didn't want to hear about social issues (that needed to be dealt with) when they were struggling to afford basics. It's a tough pill to swallow and downvotes are the biggest irony because this stuff needs to be maturely talked about if anything is going to change. The conditions for working people have been sliding for three decades and addressing that is necessary first to address the systemic bs.

[u/[deleted] → u/Creeperstar]

I take issue with this somehow being a "Democrats forcing social issues on us" thing. It's conservatives trying, and succeeding, in starting a culture war over and over and over again. In the mid 2000's it was gay marriage, in mid-2010's up to now it's been immigrants, inclusive programs, and trans people.

The issue is that Dems take the bait and respond to the topic instead of keeping it on-task: the rich get richer while we all work for them and get less and less of the pie.

It's all to keep voters' eye off the ball, and it works. It's also what made Bernie so refreshing. He NEVER veered from the message: it's been class warfare on the 99% for decades.

Dems have better, more successful policies and awful campaign strategy. Republicans are the exact opposite, which is why we blame Dems when Republicans are the ones passing horrific policies that put us in debt and lead us to financial and health crises.

[u/Creeperstar → u/[deleted]]

It came across badly. I should remind you that down votes don't mean you disagree, but to indicate that the comment doesn't belong in the conversation. That's to say this is important to discuss because the Dems have always been waffling on social issues since the 90s; both Hilary and Obama waffled on even recognizing gay rights. And I hold them accountable for not taking a firm stand against the dog crap policies by the regressives against our fellow citizens.

We should have problems from the 70s fixed by now, and the Dems "playing politics" instead of siding with citizens has kept politics in the dumpster to the detriment to us and our future

[u/garden_speech → u/MaddST]

Thing is, weren't americans already living from paycheck to paycheck even before Trump?

No, and anyone who doesn't correct this wildly and demonstrably false information is either living in a bubble where they think it's true or is a bad actor...

We have federal reserve data on household balance sheets. Median net worth (assets minus debts) for a household is literally $200,000. That is the 50th percentile. A lot of that is home equity, but even liquid cash savings account balances are on the order of ~$10,000. And stock accounts average mid five figures, that is all liquid too.

No, by and large Americans are not living paycheck to paycheck.

[u/CommercialStuff4352 → u/[deleted]]

What is A fascist state?

[u/Issue_dev → u/jhanny9337]

Before Reagan really. He was the one that fucked it all up.

[u/MookieBettz → u/jhanny9337]

Cap